Wanted: Mining Engineers

Mining engineering isn’t taught in many universities in India. Among the handful of institutes that offer the course, the best is the Indian School of Mines or ISM in Dhanbad (Jharkhand). One reason why ISM is the most ideal for studying the course is that it is situated right in the middle of eastern India’s coal belt, stretching from just after Durgapur at one end to Jharia, Sindri and beyond.

ISM has yielded some of India’s renowned mining engineers, but the institute’s faculty is equally strong in other disciplines of earth science, namely Geology, Geophysics and Petroleum Engineering. It is therefore no surprise that students from ISM have shined in their respective fields not only in India, but also in many other countries.

Proof of that is amply evident when a team of Australian professors comes calling to Kolkata to look for, among other things, collaboration with ISM and also IIT, Kharagpur and BESU (Bengal Engineering & Science University), Shibpur. The objective is not only to seek students for higher studies, but staff exchange and joint research programs as well.

Several large industrial initiatives are coming up in eastern India. Mega steel plants for example, and also producing coal-bed-methane (CBM) from shallow coal mines. All these call for participation of various engineering disciplines, of which mining engineering ranks near the top.

Australian delegation’s visit is a confirmation of shapes of things that can be expected in coming days. See this story.